[FX.php List] else

[Kevin Futter]

On 16/6/06 8:54 AM, "Steve Hannah" <shannah at sfu.ca> wrote:

> 
> On 15-Jun-06, at 3:49 PM, Kevin Futter wrote:
> 
>> On 15/6/06 9:23 PM, "Steve Winter" <steve at bluecrocodile.co.nz> wrote:
>> 
>>> Jonathan,
>>> 
>>> The first thing that strikes me is in the line;
>>> if ($_POST[phone1] == "") {
>>> You're missing the quotes from the parameter name, it needs to be;
>>> if ($_POST['phone1'] == "") {
>> 
>> Actually, the quotes are optional in this case - PHP will parse the
>> variables out quite fine without them. However, it *is* good form
>> to use the
>> quotes, since this allows you to be consistent across the board,
>> which is
>> always a good thing.
> 
> I used to think this (that the quotes are optional), but this is more
> than a case of good form.  If you leave the quotes off and check your
> error log, you'll notice that it is getting filled up with warnings
> and notices about the missing quotes.  It is also quite unsafe to do
> this as, if the quotes are missing, it will first see if there is a
> constant by that name - and use the value of the constant instead of
> the literal itself.  In addition, I have run into a few cases where
> upgrading to PHP 5 broke code where quotes were missing because
> previously unreserved words became reserved.
> 
> Hence, the quotes are not optional.
> 
> Best regards
> 
> Steve Hannah

Interesting - I wasn't aware of these issues, although I thoroughly agree
that you should always use quotes. I never treat them as optional, even when
under the misapprehension that they are :-)

-- 
Kevin Futter
Webmaster, St. Bernard's College
http://www.sbc.melb.catholic.edu.au/



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